Addressing a meet-the-press programme in Chandigarh, Bhagwat said the pulling down of the structure was not any conspiracy, but a spontaneous reaction from the Kar Sewaks.
Seventeen years after the Babri Masjid was pulled down, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat today said there was no question for the Sangh to regret for what had happened and maintained that their full support to the "Ram temple movement" will continue.
Addressing a meet-the-press programme here, Bhagwat said the pulling down of the structure was not any conspiracy, but a spontaneous reaction from the Kar Sewaks "whose sentiments and emotions had been hurt".
"Whatever happened was connected with the movement for the construction of the Ram temple. The sentiments of the Kar Sewaks were hurt that also included many Muslims. So the question for the RSS to regret does not arise," he said.
Without naming any one he said, "afsos jinko karna chahiye woh karein" (those who ought to regret, should do so). When asked to name any prominent Muslim leader who participated in the "Kar Sewa" on December 6, the day when the Mosque was brought down, Bhagwat said, "there were many Muslims. Prominent names that I can remember include (senior BJP leader) Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and another leader from Mumbai, Muzaffar Hussain".
He stressed that the Sangh's full support to the Ram temple movement, which was being run by Sant Mahatama religious leaders), will continue as it had extended its support in the past. "The Sangh works as per their direction," he added.
"Whether Ram temple will be built with the support of the government or through any Court directive or by change of heart (consensus among different sections of people), but we are committed to this (the movement for its construction)," he said.
He said in fact after the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition the interaction of the Sangh with other communities, including the Muslims and the Christians increased.
"Our intentions are clear. We have no enemity with any community," Bhagwat said, adding that the Sangh has not been properly understood by the people. "To understand the Sangh one has to come in its fold for a couple of years. The taste of sugar is felt only after eating it," he said.
Bhagwat said that propaganda against the Sangh is also creating misconceptions about the organisation. "Now the misconceptions about the Sangh are being removed," he said adding that his media inter action here, the first Meet the Press programme by any RSS Sanghchalak was also a step in the direction of clearing the misconceptions.
On the Liberhan Commission report, the RSS chief said it was fraught with "errors" and "factual incorrectness". To a question, Bhagwat said the RSS believes that the country belonged to everyone and that all sections should contribute towards its progress.
"We believe that entire India is for the Indians...it is our thought that all those who are doing the good work of uniting this country and taking it forward and those who don't follow the path of violence we call them Hindus. People are free to agree or disagree with us, that is their choice."
He said that 1.57 lakh RSS workers were working to spread this thought. "The RSS does not have any self-interest and neither we expect anyone to praise us for what we are doing. Our only aim is the country should move forward unitedly," he said.
"All those who are involved in this (uniting the nation), we call them Hindus. You may call them Indians, we have no problem. We are all sons of Bharat Mata and we have to live in one house (this country) without fighting with each other."
Asked why RSS does not open its doors to Muslims and Christians, he said, "our organisation does not have any doors so the question of closing them on anyone does not arise. The truth is that several Muslims and Christians come to our 'shakhas'. We are all one and we want this thing should remain intact, even though we may have different identities".
To a query, he said two decades down the line he forsees that Sangh's "acceptability" in the society will increase and said more and more youths were being drawn into it. To another question, he said the Uniform Civil Code and Article 370 were very much part of its agenda and dismissed the idea that the RSS had dumped these issues.
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